Nick King, Conservative Councillor for Littledown and Iford ward, Bournemouth Unitary Authority. Thoughts and news about the ward, the Conservative Party in Bournemouth, Bournemouth Borough Council and other national and local issues. (All views expressed are personal to me, and do not reflect official Conservative Party, Conservative Group on Bournemouth Council or Bournemouth East Conservative Association opinions)

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Computer chips in bins - What's the truth?

The Bournemouth Echo is reporting that the Leader of the Council, Cllr Richard Smith, has said that there are no chips embedded in the new bins that have been delivered around Bournemouth since June 12th.

That's completely contrary to the dozens of residents of Littledown and Iford who have been in touch with me today to confirm that there are chips inserted under the rim of their new bins.

It's incredible that the Council leader doesn't know that the bins have chips embedded in them. Apparently the Echo have been attempting to get a response from the Council most of the day without success. It appears to me another situation where the current leadership of the Council are totally out of touch with the actions of their officers on the ground.

UPDATE: The Council have just released the following statement about chips in bins:

Chips in bin not yet active

In the past few days there have been many articles in local and national press about micro-chips in refuse bins. We would like to tell Bournemouth residents about the situation in our town.

The ‘micro-chip’ is a chip and each contains a unique number which will be allocated to a property. The new bins delivered have a chip already contained within the bin as these are fitted at the point of manufacture. In the future we could fit the technology to new refuse vehicles which will enable us to record the time of emptying and the weight of the bin. Should we decide to proceed with this technology; the micro-chips will help speed up data collection. We already collect data so that we are aware of exactly how much waste is being produced within Bournemouth, but this new technology would enable us to monitor such things as tonnages collected far more efficiently and see the trends quickly. It would not be there to monitor bins on an individual basis. The micro-chips would also enable stolen or misplaced bins to be easily identified and returned to the correct house. We would like to reassure residents that this ‘chip’ is nothing to worry about.

Cllr John Hayter, the Councils Recycling Champion stated “Taking advantage of new technology would help the council to deliver a high quality waste and recycling service for the residents of Bournemouth. By looking to the future and using all new technologies available we will be able to meet the challenge of increased diversion of waste from landfill.”

We would also ask that residents stop using the ‘Blue Bags’ as this scheme has now finished. Please place the recyclable material in Big Bin after your normal collection this week ready for your first collection of the new scheme in September.